Code: Failsafe
by JustDance04
Summary: 25 years after the end, a Kadic jock goes exploring and does what was thought impossible: The idiot managed to reboot XANA. Working with a stuck-up intellectual, a drummer boy, a religious and genre savvy rich girl, and the child of Jeremy and Aelita, the five of them go on a quest to stop XANA and save the world. CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Note this story was conceived well before Evolution and, as such, completely ignores it's existence. Also note that the author has nothing against Evolution. She just doesn't want to wait for it to end, as there is a good chance it will completely contradict the workings of this story and, in fact, already has. **End A/N.**

Michael Prince was on a mission. The 9th grade basketball star was currently making his way through the sewers to the abandoned factory on the river. He reached the ladder he was looking for and climbed up and out into the warm night air. He made his way across the bridge and into the factory, only to be halted by the fact that the only way to the ground floor was an old rope. He reached a hand out and tugged it.

_No one in their right mind would use this thing,_ he thought. He tugged it again before grabbing it in both hands. _It's a good thing I'm not in my right mind._ He backed up, holding the rope, and jumped down onto the floor.

He ran his hand along one of the support beams. _This thing's been standing since my parents were in school. Strange how they haven't demolished it._ As he continued to examine the beams, a freight elevator on the other side of the room caught his attention. He made his way over and found a security keypad. He popped his knuckles and prepared to crack the code. The keypad must have been busted, however, as he pushed one button and the elevator opened.

Cautiously, he stepped in and pressed the down button. The elevator closed and began descending. As the ride took longer than originally thought, he thought about using the hatch on the top. Just as he crouched to try to jump and reach it, the elevator opened into an empty room. Instincts screaming at him to run, he walked into the room. Before he could go more than five steps, he halted as a large tower rose from the floor. As he approached it, he spotted a hatch and button. He pressed the button and the hatch opened reveal a large switch. He stared at it for a good minute before holding his breath and pushing it up. As the switch locked into place, a low hum began to resonate from within the cylinder.

Leaving the cylinder to boot up, he went back to the elevator and pushed the button, which, unexpectedly, took him up only one floor. This time, the room contained three metal cylinders. Approaching the one on the right, he ran his fingernail along a crack in it. He attempted to pull it open, but it wouldn't budge. Eventually giving up, he returned to the elevator and once again rose one floor.

This floor, unlike the last, was a miracle, for in it was the largest and probably most powerful computer he had ever seen. Despite his status as basketball captain and VIP, Michael was a computer nerd and so he ran to the chair in front of the monitor. Sitting down, he pressed the enter key and watched the computer spring to life. He immediately started surfing through files and succeeded in pulling up a couple of different programs.

"Let's see. Code...Lyoko, whatever that is. Code...X.A.N.A...Code...Failsafe. Finally, something makes sense." He started the program and watched as the screen was immediately nuked and replaced with a strange target-like symbol on a black background.

"Systems rebooting," the computer intoned. "Connection to network rebooting. XANA rebooting. Time until complete: 26 hours, 57 minutes."

"Well," Michael said, "I feel like I just unleashed something horrible."


	2. Conversations in the Quad: Ginny Belpois

Geneva Marie Belpois was not happy. She wasn't upset over the fact that her pet guinea pig died, as that was a few weeks ago. Nor was she upset over the fact that it was her first day at her parents old school, Kadic Academy. No, she was upset that her parents were apparently old friends with the principal and so were talking with her, while Ginny was forced to watch her seven year-old brother, Alain, who was both very annoying and liked to wander off to explore. At the moment, she was squirming to keep him still and pull gum out of his hair while attempting to eavesdrop on her parents' conversation.

"-action news reporters, can you believe it? And we thought they weren't going anywhere in life with that school magazine of theirs," the principal said, prompting Ginny's mother to start laughing.

"Remember when Milly announced that she was never getting married? Poor Hiroki was heartbroken," her mother said.

"Alain, this stuff is never coming out. You're going to need ANOTHER haircut. Stop putting gum in your hair. How did you even get gum? Mama and Papa stopped letting you have it." Ginny growled.

"I take it you're not having a good day?" a voice behind her asked. She turned around to find a blonde boy spinning a basketball on his finger, before tossing it up in the air and catching it. "Nice hood, by the way." Ginny blushed and pulled down the frog hood on her black and green jacket.

"No, I'm not having a good day. First my parents decide they both have to drop me off, meaning we have to bring along Alain here. Then it turns out they're friends with Principal Delmas, so the three of them are yakking it up while I'm stuck watching the pest. Then he goes and gets gum stuck in his hair AGAIN, so I'm trying to get it out without yanking off his scalp...Yeah, not how I expected this day to go."

"It's amazing how you can tell me how your day went without once giving a clue to your identity," the boy said with a smirk as he moved to sit beside her on the bench. "I'm Michael. Michael Prince. Captain of the basketball team. This is my fourth year at Kadic. I'm in the tenth grade. And I have a one-sided rivalry with the smartest kid in my class. The weird is, I'm not handling the rivalry. He is. He's got it in his head that all jocks are dumb jerks who always use violence to get what they want."

Ginny just stared at him, before realizing Alain was escaping and tightening her grip on him, then turning her attention back to Michael. "Oh...kay. I'm Geneva Belpois, but everyone calls me Ginny. My parents are Jeremy and Aelita Belpois, the computer programmers. I'm interested in biology and animal behavioral patterns, especially frogs, which used to be a bit of an unhealthy obsession. Alongside French, I've also learned English, Japanese, and am studying German. I'm going into the ninth grade. I would have attended sooner, but threw screaming fits whenever my parents suggested boarding school. Oh, and I know Pencak Silat."

"Penca-what now?" Michael asked with a confused look.

"It's a type of martial art. My godparents taught me. Interestingly enough, they learned it here at Kadic from Coach Morales," Ginny explained.

"Coach Morales? Oh, old Fat Jim. Can't see him teaching anything physical, but then again, it's his forty-fifth year at the academy, not to mention the myriad of other jobs he's had. Well, I gotta go. Be sure to visit the gym sometime, Froggy."

She was about to yell something at his disappearing back, but her parents interrupted.

"Sorry for taking so long, Ginny," her father said. "We haven't seen Sis-er, I mean, Elisabeth, in a while, so you have to understand we want to catch up old friends."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Papa. Alain got his hands on gum again."


	3. Commanding from On High: Jorden Spike

Jorden Spike leaned back at his documents finished printing. Flyers for the Game Club? Check. Flyers for the Chess Team? Check. Flyers for the Academic Team? Check. Flyers for tutoring lessons? Check. Gathering up his stack of papers, he left the room, being sure to lock the door behind him. He made his way over to the secretary's desk and dropped off the office key he had been given. He then proceeded out the door and into the quad. His first stop was the rec room, where he posted one of each of his fliers. He continued to post fliers on the school bulletin board and in the dorm building. Call him old-fashioned, but flyers were more likely to catch people's attention than some ad on the school website.

As he finished putting up his last flyer, a first-year boy ran up to him.

"Hello. Can I help you?" He asked warmly.

"Uhm, I couldn't help but notice you posting flyers and I was wondering...where do I sign up for sports?" the boy asked. It took but a second for Jorden's demeanor to change entirely.

"Sports. I see. If you feel you simply MUST sign up for one, talk to...Michael Prince. He can direct you to the captain of whichever team you're joining. Feel free to come talk to me when they can find no proper way to tell you you're not wanted. You can always join my clubs. We don't discriminate against those that aren't old members," Jorden replied coolly.

"Oh...okay...I-I'll do that..." the boy's voice was quivering.

"If you ever need me, any student on campus can probably direct you to wherever I am at the moment," Jorden told him, before leaving the building to see if he could spot any new kids. He had to refrain from growling at the sight of Michael walking around with a basketball under his arm. He shifted his gaze away, where it got caught on a shock of bright pink hair. What made it especially eye-catching was the fact that it not only was pink, but also cut in an anime style: a boy-cut with two large locks springing up and framing the face.

He was about to run up and attempt to convince her to join a club, but her parents approached her first. Ah, well. At least he had an explanation for the pink hair now. He turned his attention to the boy approaching him.

"Morning, Matt," he greeted.

"Hey there, Jorden. How goes it on the new recruits?" Matt asked.

"Not much. One of them was attention-catching, though..."

"Jorden, for the LAST TIME, you are NOT of Indian heritage!"

"What? No. I meant the girl with pink hair. Judging from her mother, it's natural."

"Oh. I thought you meant-well, whatever. If it's natural...there's only one known instance of natural pink hair in the world."

"Yes. Aelita Belpois. Leads the creative side of the Belpois Corporation. You think the new girl's her kid?"

"I wouldn't rule it out, considering she and her husband were both students here twenty years ago. So you coming to the opening tonight?"

"Maybe...I was thinking of taking a...walk...if Prince doesn't show up."

"Jorden. He only disappeared sporadically OVER THE SUMMER. I don't think he's going to disappear during the school year as well."

"I will enjoy making you eat those words when I find Prince engaged in some activity that's against school policy."

"I seriously doubt you're going to find him doing ANYTHING, because he'll probably be at the speech."

"Whatever. I gotta go. Later, Matt."


	4. Moving in style: Thomas & Marquise

Thomas' and Mary's vehicle pulled into the parking lot of Kadic Academy. It pulled several stares, which they fully expected: they were riding in a stretch limousine.

Thomas' appearance rarely changed: he had brown hair, blue eyes, and white skin. He wore a black shirt and blue jeans. This was in contrast to the bright and cheerful Mary, who loved pink over all other colors. She wore pink clothes, had a pink stuffed animal, and had even had her hair dyed pink.

"We have arrived, sir and madam," their chauffeur announced, "Do you wish for assistance with your luggage?"

"Yes, that would be helpful, Mr. Patrick," Mary said. Thomas just shrugged, finally getting out of the limo and standing on solid ground after what had been a good 5- or 6-hour trip from L.A.

Now, you probably need a bit of backstory here. Patrick was the personal chauffeur for Thomas Johnson, nephew of two movie stars in Hollywood. Thomas' friend, Mary Elizabeth, was the daughter of an archeologist and the former CEO of a large corporation, although her father had died in a tragic plane crash. They both lived in L.A., but they had left for the school year to attend Kadic.

"So, Tommy, where do you plan to go to church during the year?" Mary asked, tilting her head, "I went online and pulled up a document with all of the nearby churches and chapels. I was thinking St. Luther's sounded-"

"Mary, I'd really rather not consider that right now. I kind of want to find the school band," Thomas said, sighing. He and Mary were both Christians, sure, but she was quite a bit more... enthusiastic about religion. He was pretty certain of the fact that she'd be a preacher someday.

"Oh, ok," Mary said, slightly dejected. "So, what are they called? What kind of music?"

"Kadic Sound," Thomas said, shrugging again as he pulled two large, bulging suitcases out: one black, the other bright pink. "Kind of a lame name if you ask me, but from what I've heard, not a bad band. They enjoy techno and rock, apparently."

Thomas and Mary grunted as they pulled their heavy suitcases along the grounds, with Patrick following behind with more bags and luggage.

"Ugh... I wish... they could invent... hammerspace..." Mary groaned.

"Please, that's in the realm of science fiction, along with fictional characters entering real life, supercomputers, and video games you can enter," Thomas said, rolling his eyes at his friend's imagination.

"Yeah, I know," Mary said, sighing.

After a good 10 minutes, they had both arrived at their separate dorms. Thomas entered his and instantly started unpacking. He pulled out an MP3 player, two sets of headphones, drumsticks (which he absentmindedly tapped on things while unpacking), several sets of clothes, a Bible, and finally a laptop. The laptop was no cheap, chintzy one; no, this was a powerful, expensive, and very cutting-edge laptop, pretty much taken off the shelves the moment it was put on them. Naturally, Mary had one, too.

And, speaking of which, it is time to look at Mary's dorm room. She, too, had started unpacking. Like Thomas, she had an MP3 player and headphones, as well as clothes and a laptop. However, one of the notable things about her was that she pulled out not only a Bible, but also a devotional and what was essentially a dictionary for Biblical terms.

After Patrick had dropped off schoolbooks and other items to both of them, they met together in the main hall. Two older students had apparently just finished a conversation, and were now going separate ways. One, in a black T-shirt with a chess logo on it, muttered something about a "crazy, misguided, futile mission" as he passed them, but neither one minded much. In their opinions, they were surrounded by crazy people everyday.

"So, not to sound awkward, but you want to meet up for dinner tonight?" Thomas asked, "I was gonna check the flyers for the band, but we can get together then."

"Sure, no prob. See you tonight," Mary said, smiling and waving as she went outside again.

Thomas walked over to the notice board. How fortunate; they decided to actually organize the flyers. He found the flyer for Kadic Sound, and knew he was in luck: they needed a new drummer after the last one graduated, and they were beginning auditions in an hour. He asked for directions to the auditions. After running up to his dorm to grab his drumsticks, getting a pear from the cafeteria, and trying to learn about the competition, he finally found his way to the gym.

The competition was... underwhelming. There were only 4 other students trying out, all of them new like him. The band was obviously wary as the first student took to the stage. Thomas listened intently, but he agreed with the band when they said he sounded like more of a guitarist. The first female applying was just awful. Thomas doubted that she had had any actual lessons in drumming. The second female was much better (of course, it was hard to be worse), and the entire band loved her, but Thomas had no doubts he could one-up her. The other boy applying had an excellent voice, but he simply was not good on the drums.

Finally, it was Thomas' turn. He leaped onto the stage, and pulled out his drumsticks from his pocket. He tapped out a beat in his mind, and began. He had never come up with lyrics for the song, but the tune came naturally. He and Mary had devised it, after all. He knew that it would be much better with other instruments - maybe a guitar, a wind instrument, and... something else. As he finally finished up with the 3 or 4 minute tune, the band looked at each other, then shrugged and clapped. The other person who had done well, the girl, looked pretty much furious at the competition. He stepped off the stage and gave her a smirk, which only made her angrier.

"So, refs, who wins?" Thomas asked.

"Uh, well, to be honest... we're not sure," one of the band members admitted. "I mean, personally, I've never heard that tune-"

"Well, duh. I made it up with my friend," Thomas cut him off.

"Oh, well, that makes sense," the boy said, "Um, but I actually think that the song she used was much better." Thomas' eyebrow twitched. "However, maybe with some other instruments mixed in, it could work better?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought. So, am I in, or not?" Thomas asked impatiently.

"... Group huddle," the boy ordered. They shooed Thomas away, and began discussing in whispers. Finally, they called the girl and Thomas together. "Well, after a bit of debate, we've decided... Rachel, you are our new drummer. Thomas, you are, um, our emergency back-up."

Thomas, despite showing no reaction on the outside, had a miniature world crashing down inside him. He was beaten. He was beaten. He was BEATEN. His hands slowly curled into fists. This would not stand.

"No, I am not your back-up," he said slowly, through gritted teeth. "I am your drummer, or I don't affiliate with you at all."

"Um, I'm sorry, but the vote stands," the boy said apologetically.

"Fine, have it your way. Enjoy your new job, Rachel. I bet this entire band stinks, anyway," Thomas said. He angrily stormed out of the gym, but he heard Rachel muttering behind him, "It is easy to despise what you cannot have." Apparently the rest of the band found this hilarious.

Mary had been having a different experience. Several boys had crowded around her, much to her dismay, as she had been trying to read a book. They seemed harmless enough, but they kept staring at her like they expected her to do something amazing. Finally she put down her book.

"Can I help you boys with something?" she asked, sighing.

The reaction was unexpected. They asked questions about her, her name, why she had been in a limo, how she had pink hair, would they go out with her, blablabla. She answered each one calmly and rationally, until finally the boys dispersed and she could read in peace.

"Ugh. Feel like some kind of real-life Mary Sue," she groaned. She immediately pulled out a rubber band from her pocket and slapped herself with it. "No, Mary, you will NOT think about TV Tropes. You will NOT think about TV Tropes!"

There wasn't much left of interest with these two, so we'll let them be for now.


	5. Megatanks on Lyoko

Hi. I'm Micheal Prince. I know, I know. "Isn't this a third person story?" Well, yes, it is. But I thought it important to make a note of something to you. Yes, I rebooted the supercomputer. And, yes, at this point in my life (if you're wondering, I am speaking to you from 7 years in the future), I realize that had been a horrible mistake. But I'm no idiot, I promise! You'll see. Eventually.

The morning rush of new students slowed down. Morning became afternoon. Noon became evening. It was exactly 5 minutes until the speech by Principal Elizabeth, and the seats in the auditorium were packed. "Fat Jim", as most students called him, was doing his normal job of inspecting for weapons, dangerous items, etc., which, luckily for him, was not a very involved job.

Micheal, however, was nowhere to be seen. In fact, he was packing up a light snack and slipping a pair a shoes on. The same computer he had booted up at the end of last year was, as he discovered, his portal to a virtual universe.

He had decided that it was some kind of video game, but unfortunately, there wasn't much to do. There were no NPC's, no other players, no plot... however, he had learned over the summer how to bring in a few virtual monsters to fight once virtualized. They were all easy, in his opinion. With a set of metal claws on each hand as his weapons, he tore through them, usually literally. He knew that there were many, many features about the computer that he had yet to unlock, though.

When finally prepared, he sprinted off for the factory, which, as far as he knew of, was the only entrance into the game. He, as routine, traveled through the park as a shortcut to the right side of the city. He crossed a bridge, slid down the rope, and, finally entered the elevator. He started up the virtualization process, entered the scanner... and next thing he knew, he was on Lyoko.

He was in the Ice Region. His outfit on what he believed was called "Lie-ah-kah" was a red cloak and black pants, and he wielded a set of dual metallic claws, as mentioned before. He immediately began jumping around, harnessing his other power here: his jumping prowess increased tenfold. He could somewhere much quicker by jumping than running, no structure was too high for him to jump on top of, and, best of all, he never, ever got tired. Finally, he saw the monsters he had coded up. They were not normal. He mostly fought giant crabs, little bugs, and walking blocks. These ones, though, were spherical and, Micheal guessed, heavily armored. He grinned.

"Finally, a challenge!" he exclaimed.

"Hm, interesting piece of equipment. I wonder who designed it," a voice muttered from the sky. Micheal nearly went into a panic. That was Jordan! Jordan had followed him here!

"Jordan!" Micheal yelled, "Step away from the video game!"

"Prince?" Jordan asked, apparently just now realizing there was a headset connected. "Hah! I knew it! You were keeping a secret! So, where are you?"

"I'm on Lie-ah-kah, but that's really not your business!" Micheal yelled angrily. "Why did you follow m- OW!" An enormous laser blast had hit him in his blind spot, and he now noticed the two monsters charging for another blast. "Hm. Hold that thought."

Micheal charged at one monster, dodging each blast by fractions.

"Hey, Prince, the computer is flashing red on a... card... thing," Jordan said, "Is that bad?"

"Yeah, I think so. Pretty sure that blast took a good chunk of my HP away," Micheal said.

He was finally next to a monster, and cautiously circled it while avoiding blasts from the other. It remained in ball form, so he simply tried to attack it like that. There was literally no effect. Finally, it opened up, and prepared for a blast... which it never used. Micheal had slashed it in the eye, causing it to explode.

"Boo-ya!" Micheal cheered. Then it hit him. A laser, that is. He groaned as he fell to the ground and devirtualized.

Jordan was still at the computer when Micheal approached, both fury and surprise sketched onto his face.

"Ok, Jordan. When, why, and how. Tell me, now," he demanded.

"I'm not your slave, I don't have to say or do anything for you," Jordan said, rolling his eyes.

"Now, Jordan! I have no time for ga- ugh, forget that. Just answer me," Micheal pressed.

"Whatever. I followed you because I knew quite well that you weren't on campus, and as class rep, I couldn't let this go unpunished," Jordan said, "I managed to finally track you down because I can follow your basketball stench anywhere."

"Jordan, I will lay down some ground rules. You will never follow me again. You will never speak a word of this to anyone. And you will not-"

"What's that?" Jordan interrupted, pointing at the screen. Micheal had no idea. A red eye, like the ones he always saw n the monsters, had popped up and was flashing bright red.

"Plot hook, maybe. Let me sit down," Micheal said, shoving Jordan out of the seat and taking his place. The monsters on screen suddenly became little red dots, and some spherical thing on th screen started flashing red. He had seen those things in Lyoko.

"A tower. Those things have never done anything interesting," Micheal muttered.

"Prince, something is wrong," Jordan said, narrowing his eyes. "When we get back to Kadic, I expect a full explanation. Give it to me, and I might not report your late-night excursions."

"Fine. See you at Kadic," Micheal replied, taking his leave.


	6. Forming a Group

In the auditorium, Principal Elizabeth was finishing her Opening Speech. Her full name was Elizabeth Delmas, but she preferred not to be called by last name. As she finished up, the entire stadium breathed a sigh of relief. Then Fat Jim ran in, obviously panicked, since he almost never ran these days.

"Siss- Principal!" he yelled, "May I have a word with you?"

"Yes, what is it?" Mrs. Elizabeth asked, stepping over.

"It- the science lab- chemicals..." Jim wheezed.

"Yes, what about them? Another spill? I've told you to stay out of there; you're a bit clumsier than you once were," Elizabeth said, sighing.

"No... life of their own," Jim explained, "Coming here. And I'm getting a sense of deja vu."

"Hm, you know, I used to spread ridiculous stories like that. But let's think rationally," Elizabeth said. "Can chemicals really come to life?"

"Why don't you ask them?" Jim asked.

There were noxious fumes seeping through the door. Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, and calmly ordered all staff and faculty to escort the students to the emergency exit, while she called Haz-Mat.

Jinnie, however, had gotten mixed up in all the confusion, and ended up going through the wrong door. Oh, she was in trouble now. She covered her nose and held her breath, because the chemical fumes were throughout the air in this room. She tried to open the door, and almost gasped as she found it to have no handle on the side she was on. She banged on the door loudly.

Mary had, luckily, been nearby. She opened the door on her way past, freeing Jinnie and the fumes. Jinnie wasted no time in gasping for breath, but Mary simply dragged her along. Thomas met up with them along the way to the exit.

"Hm, first day and they already have a chemical emergency on their hands. This should be an interesting school year," Thomas said off-handedly.

"I'm sure this isn't the norm, Tommy," Mary said, "So, you are?"

"I'm Jinnabella Belpois. Call me Jinnie," Jinnie answered, "How about you?"

"Well, I'm Mary Elizabeth, and this is Tommy. I mean, Thomas Johnson," Mary introduced.

"Johnson? Rings a bell, I think," Jinnie said.

"Well, it's a pretty common last name, but I'm the nephew of two movie stars, if it interests you," Thomas said.

"Oh. Nope, never heard of 'em," Jinnie said, shrugging. Thomas eyebrow twitched. "Anyway, are you first-years, too?"

"Yup. I'm 15, and Mary's 14," Thomas answered.

"Oh, ok. Do you like frogs?" Jinnie asked enthusiastically.

"That... was really random," Thomas said, "No, I don't like frogs. Too green and slimy."

"Oh, pft! Not all frogs are green; only the common ones!" Jinnie exclaimed.

None of them had even noticed they were getting side-tracked from the other students, until Micheal and Jordan burst through a door on front of them talking about some computer.

"Yeah? And what about the monster- oh, uh, hello," Jordan said, staring at the group. "Um, is the speech over already?"

"Already? I thought she'd never stop talking!" Jinnie yelled, "It's been at least an hour!"

"Oh. That long, huh? I blame Prince, for the record," Jordan said, glaring daggers at the blond guy next to him.

"... Micheal?" Jinnie asked.

"Oh, hey, Froggy," Micheal said, giving a cheerful wave.

"Shut up and let's get some peace. Come to my room and we'll talk there. I can at least pass it off as late-night tutoring. Be sure to bring a few schoolbooks to help pass off the disguise," Jordan said, "And you, kids: we were never here, and you have no right saying anything to anyone."

"We're not supposed to be in the school, you know," Mary said, "There's been chemicals spreading around the building. We're all evacuating, but we seem to have lost our guides."

"Oh. Well, class rep, at your service," Jordan said, giving a slight bow. "Prince, let's go. Come along, newbies."

"I don't like him," Jinnie whispered to Micheal.

"It's ok, I don't either," Micheal whispered back, smirking. "Don't worry, he warms up to most students eventually. You know, unless you join any athletic extracurricular whatsoever. And he calls me a jerk."

"Blegh," Jinnie replied, sticking out her tongue.

As they got out, Haz-Mat was already pulling in. However, after eavesdropping on the worker's conversations for a few minutes, they gleaned enough information to know that Haz-Mat could do nothing against this.

"Prince, what were you guys doing while we were at the speech?" Thomas asked.

"Why?" Micheal asked.

"Well, we heard something about a computer and a monster. I think we deserve an explanation," Thomas replied.

"Ah. You heard that," Micheal said, his face falling. Jordan looked at him out of the corner of his eye, crossing his arms. It was obvious that if he didn't tell the truth, Jordan would. "Um, well, can you keep a secret?"

"Depends on how big it is," Mary said, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

"Well, it's not too big. Just, um, the most awesome video game in universe?" Micheal said nervously.

"Arguably," Jordan said, rolling his eyes.

"You can ENTER IT, Jordan!" Micheal yelled.

"Check one off the list of things that don't exist, Tommy," Mary said.

"So what? What you wanted was hammerspace," Thomas said, smirking.

"Oh? You mean like in a suitcase?" Jinnie and Micheal asked at once. "Jinx! You owe me a soda! No, YOU do!"

"And the immaturity begins," Jordan grumbled, rolling his eyes again.

"Anyway, about this video game you can enter? Where is it?" Thomas asked impatiently.

"Oh, right. Remember, a secret! It's in a factory across the city. There's a shortcut through the park," Micheal said, "We were gonna talk about some eye that appeared on the screen. I think it's a plot hook."

"... When did that happen?" Mary asked, drawing the lines between the dots in her head.

"Um... 6:48? Or so?" Micheal guessed, "Why?"

"Because that's about the time the chemicals started leaking!" Mary exclaimed, "There's a connection, I'm sure!"

"That's preposterous," Jordan said, "It's a video game. A coincidence caused this. An odd one, yes, but a coincidence."

"Oh, yes, it's a million-to-one chance of them being connected. Boom. 100%," Mary said.

"What? How does that make sense?" Jordan asked, "You, miss, fail logic. Forever."

"Oh? You're from TV Tropes, too?" Mary asked.

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Anyway, a million-to-one chance is a sure thing, according to the Rule of Drama," Mary explained, while pulling out her rubber band and hitting herself over and over again.

"Why... are you hitting yourself... with a rubber band?" Jinnie asked.

"She's a recovering Trope addict," Thomas answered, "I'll explain later, but right now, Mary may have a point. Genre Savviness can apply in real life, too."

"I'm not completely sure I understand, but I can take you there if you want. But I can't enter the game again for 12 hours. It's an effect of a Game Over," Micheal said.

"No prob. I can enter in your place," Thomas volunteered.

"Hey, I wanna join, too!" Jinnie complained.

"I guess I'll go, too," Mary said, shrugging.

"Hm, alright. Jordan?" Micheal asked, narrowing his eyes.

"... I'm in. Someone has to keep an eye on you, Prince," Jordan said at last.


End file.
